With more than eight hundred people on board, three non-governmental organization (NGO) ships are waiting to dock off the coast of Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi continue to say no to them.

The Foreign Ministry in Rome confirmed on Thursday that it had previously called on Berlin in a verbal list to take over those arriving on the Humanity 1 ship with the German flag, who are declared eligible for asylum. The ministry added that they had requested information from the German side about those on the ship.

The diplomatic document dated October 23 was made public on Wednesday by public television channel RAI3. In its response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin urged Rome to provide assistance as soon as possible for those on the NGO ship, among whom there are more than a hundred minors. With 179 people on board, Humanity 1 is waiting about 18 kilometers from Italian territorial waters.

Several ships want to dock

Also waiting to dock is the Geo Barents ship with 572 people on board, which is maintained by the Doctors Without Borders organization, and the Ocean Viking, which is a ship of the French organization Sos Mediterranee and is carrying more than two hundred people, is a Norwegian flag. The ships took the people on board between October 22 and 29 in international waters. Italy did not grant a mooring permit. Ocean Viking already requested the same from Spain, France and Greece on Thursday.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi stated in an interview given to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Wednesday that with the new right-wing government, Rome will no longer accept people who are taken on board by foreign ships at sea. He emphasized that NGO ships regularly carry out their activities without minimal involvement of the authorities.

16 percent of those arriving on Italian shores come on NGO boats, while the local authorities must also provide assistance to the remaining 84 percent"

stated the head of the ministry.

According to Piantedosi, those arriving on NGO ships should be accommodated by European countries that provide their ships with the flag of their majesty. He believed that the migration flow can only be solved by stopping departures.

The Minister of the Interior previously declared the mooring of Humanity 1 and Ocean Viking dangerous by decree citing reasons of national security. Giorgia Meloni stated in a book that will be published on Friday, but which has already been published in detail,

we must not forget what law applies at sea.

According to him, if the crew of a ship goes back and forth between the African coast and Italy carrying migrants, it is an open violation of the law of the sea and international law.

Then, if it is an NGO ship, let's assume that it is under the German flag, there are two possibilities: either Germany recognizes and undertakes it, or it becomes a pirate ship."

he stated.

The mayor of Lampedusa, Filippo Mannino, announced that on Thursday more than 1,500 people were again in the camp of 350 people on the island, where the arrivals are housed. At the same time, the German NGO Sea Watch announced that it would launch a fifth ship in the Mediterranean, named Sea Watch5.

In January of last year, a new court case was launched against former Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for defamation, after the politician called Carola Racket, the captain of the civilian vessel Sea-Watch 3, a criminal and an accomplice of human traffickers, who landed on the Italian coast without a permit with illegal immigrants on board. Milan prosecutor Giancarlo Serafini has announced that he has brought charges against Matteo Salvini. He emphasized that since it is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison, there is no need for a preliminary court hearing.

MTI

Featured image: Getty